This invention relates to construction materials and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to modular artificial lumber and methods of making the same.
A variety of apparatus and method for producing synthetic wood have been developed and used. Generally, these apparatus provide for producing sheets, panels, or slabs of synthetic building material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,255 (Cohen) discloses extruded plastic slats having multiple series of longitudinal cavities in a side-by-side relationship. The slabs are light in weight and the longitudinal cavities are disclosed as being adaptable to receive a rod for reinforcing purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,483 (Schultheiss) discloses method and apparatus which uses a multiplicity of strips of plastic material for producing a structural board having a multiplicity of substantially parallel rib-forming streams of plastic material. Neither Cohen nor Schultheiss discloses or suggests artificial lumber modules and methods of making such modules used to produce load-bearing artificial lumber, i.e., artificial lumber which may replace conventional load-bearing wood lumber such as the two-by-fours, two-by-sixes, two-by-eights, and other graded lumbers used in housing construction. Neither Cohen nor Schultheiss disclose or suggest artificial lumber modules or methods of making such modules in which the modules are integrally molded, may be combined without modification to create artificial lumber of conventional sizes, or which provide the structural strength of conventional wood in an integrally formed module.
There is a need for modular lumber and methods of making the same which may be used to produce conventional load-bearing lumber from moldable materials and thereby decrease the amount of natural wood required in the building industry and preserving our forests and environment. There is a need for modular lumber and methods which provide an artificial lumber module sized so that a whole number of substantially identical modules may be joined to create artificial lumber of selected conventional lumber sizes. There is a need for modular lumber made of integrally molded modules which have the structural strength of conventional wood without the addition of non-integral reinforcements.